A whimsical outdoor sculpture has sprung up on the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Arts campus grounds for the summer. Now on view through Nov. 7, the Queen Annes Lace Pod is a temporary, site-specific installation by Virginia-based artist Ian Stabler. Made entirely of natural materials gathered and found onsite, the towering sculptural pod is located in Potts Meadow along the Brandywines Harvey Run Trail in Chadds Ford, Pa. Stabler was commissioned by the Brandywine River Museum of Art as part of its ongoing sculptural program inviting artists to explore their responses to the local landscape. This is the fifth commissioned project in a series that has included Matthew Jensens Alongside Tall Grasses (2014), James Wellings Gradients (2015), Dylan Gauthiers Highwatermarks (2017), and Kathleen Vances Brandywine River (2018). Tying together the Brandywines dual mission of art and nature, the Queen Annes Lace Pod reflects Stablers response to the local countryside and his abiding interest in how art can be incorporated into the natural landscape. The artists initial inspiration for this project was a painting by the late artist George A. Frolic Weymouth, Brandywines co-founder titled August (1974), which features a hill covered in Queen Annes Lace flowers. August is my favorite of Frolics works and one that I have linked with the Brandywine River Museum of Art, said Ian Stabler regarding his vision for this project. I see the design of the structure both as an homage to this beautiful plant and to Frolics enduring legacy at the Brandywine. The design references the blooms form turned upside down so that the visitor enters into the crown itself, while the stalk of the plant rises above them into the sky. I envision the Pod as a place people can venture to and from, experiencing the beauty and diversity of the land. Stabler grew up in New York but frequently visited relatives in the Brandywine area since childhood. His deep affinity for the countryside and river contributed to his formation as a land artist and environmentalist. Stabler uses found wood and materials in his work to create ephemeral sculptures that reference and signify the land and landscapes from which they originate. For the Queen Annes Lace Pod, Stabler weaved together branches, sticks and leaves gathered throughout the Brandywines campus to create the walls and windows of the structure. A bench built inside the pod allows people to sit while viewing the meadow and sky through door and window openings. In addition to the Queen Annes Lace Pod, the museums campus grounds are home to five bronze sculptures, including Tipping Point (2019), a recent addition by artist Rikki Morely Saunders that was unveiled at the Brandywine earlier this summer. The other bronze sculptures include Boy with Hawk (1971), by Charles Parks; Miss Gratz (1984), by J. Clayton Bright; Helen (1989), by Andr Harvey; and R. B. (2004), by Dan Ostermiller. The Brandywine River Museum of Art features an outstanding collection of American art housed in a 19th-century mill building with a dramatic steel and glass addition overlooking the banks of the Brandywine. The museum is located on Route 1 in Chadds Ford, Pa. Up-to-date information about visiting the Brandywine can be found at www.brandywine.org/now-open.